Act of stupidity (mine)

[Richard]

Since I'm a sport, I thought I'd share this so anyone that cares to laugh at me.....can.

Was cutting some grass yesterday with the 430. Put it back where its parked and went to refuel it. I didn't cut much so it didn't need much.

(back story: I use 5 gallon yellow cans for my diesel)

I got done filling.... my brain must have been ....well....God knows where it was. I picked up with one hand, the (plastic jug) filler neck along with the little half dollar sized cap that seals it (the screw cap was off).... and instead of sliding them ever so deftly into the yellow jug.... I deftly slid them right into the open mouth of my 430 fuel tank.

I immediatly realized what I had (stupidly) done... saw the cap floating, reached my fingers in there to try to retrieve it in vain... it was sort of showing me the classic "help me I'm drowning 3,2,1 fingers" as it slipped ever so quietly into the now full abyss of the tank.

CRAP.... NOW what am I going to do...

Got a hanger to try to fish something out.... no luck.

I've got some LONG (almost 12") plier/grippers..... no luck.

Somewhere I have a flexible grabber with the fingers that retract to grab something....I'll be damned if I can find it so, no luck.

I finally realize I have to empty the tank. Got my siphon out and started pulling the diesel back out into the very tanks I just emptied it from. While doing this, the mower decided the (minor) slope it was on, was now enough to make it start to slowly roll backwards.

So now, I'm holding a half filled diesel can in my hands, trying to keep the siphon from blubbering fuel everywhere, I have another tank in the way of getting run over by the (non-running) blades... I'm holding the mower from rolling back with my one hand/arm/shoulder as I try to move some things so it can move back (to the bump in the ground which keeps it from going anywhere)

Got tank emptied, couldn't find anything. Got the straightened hanger back out, fished around.....nothing.

Finally heard the faint voice in the back of my head saying I'm going to need to remove the tank which means the back end of machine has to come off.

Ugh...

Pull back end off, look for bolts on tank and had ONE thing go in my favor as I realized it doesn't need to be bolted down and if I wiggle here & here.... YEP, it will pull right out. Except, I have a bunch of wires around it, fuel lines holding it in.... so I lift part of tank, wiggle it some and now, I see the spout from my diesel tank!!!

Get the hanger, put some strategic bends in it....got it lifted and used the LONG grabbers to pull it out.

Now, about that little cap in there.... maybe I'll let it go however, I just KNOW that it will perfectly land on the fuel outlet, plugging entire tank and annoying me for years to come.....no, it must also come out.

I finally wrestle the tank enough where I can get it out from under the hoses and angle it up.... nothing happening.

I look in there.....siphon some more diesel out (now, it's about dry)

Finally I say the heck with what fuel might be in there and just rotate tank upside down, expecting to see a gallon of diesel blow out the opening but.... didn't happen.

Left it angled downward, took free hand and slapped tank a couple times on the sides, bottom and all the sudden....

"kerplunk" the cap fell right onto the tractor frame!

As I was putting it back together, I found that I had a buggered up front mounting bolt (as in the rubber part was trashed by prior owner)

So I pulled it all out and will have to replace that.

As I type this, I'm realizing the only thing I didn't do was plug the rear lights back in.

Don't care. I called it a day.


So when you're putting your lids back on, don't be a dumbazz like I was.

 

[beenthere]

I think there is a Club that you now belong to, along with many of us that have been privy of the same kind of circus merry-go-round.

Thanks for the story of your tale. You are a good sport, and I'm not laughing at you..

Am thinking, I would have just left it there and dealt with it whenever it decided to cause a problem restricting fuel flow.. but then maybe not. LOL

 

[Thomas]

We all have our moments. :duh:

 

[Richard]

I think there is a Club that you now belong to

My wife has a name for the club she says I belong to but I don't know that I'm allowed to name it here in public...

 

[Kish318420]

It is called the "BTDT Club":mur:

 

[Zebrafive]

More than once I've filled my chainsaw, forgot to put the caps back on, picked it up and dumped gas and bar oil on me and/or the ground.

 

[MossRoad]

On the bright side, you'll find that grippy tool tomorrow for sure.

Thanks for sharing. We've all done something similar. :laughing:

 

[kirkawilson]

I wonder if OSHA heard one of these stories before and paid an engineering company megabucks to design a dongle with a strap & retainer ring fitting over the nozzle, extending from the cap, to keep the cap attached to the nozzle...safety at any cost.

 

[Bird]

Such things happen to me when I'm doing one job, but thinking about something else at the time. I KNOW I should concentrate on the job at hand, but just can't always get myself to do that.

 

[radios1]

I'm thinking we need quite a few more posts from members from Knoxville, TN to chime in, and say if this is unusual or not.

 

[woody]

More than once I've filled my chainsaw, forgot to put the caps back on, picked it up and dumped gas and bar oil on me and/or the ground.

Wife bought me a new chain saw for Christmas and the first time I started to use it I did exactly that, poured gas all down my leg.

 

[4570Man]

Ever put the bar oil in the gas? Or put a chain on backwards?

 

[lennyzx11]

Yes to the chain on backwards. (And once on a circular saw blade).
Yesterday, I moved a big ol heavy oak round up to the front yard for my wife to put flower pot on. Probably 300 lbs and 30” across. As I dumped it off the loader, I had the bright idea of tipping it so I could roll it into place.
As it hit vertical, the slight slope towards the road magnetically grabbed it and away she went! Jumping off the tractor and trying to bull wrestle it to a stop nearly broke my **** arm. Then looked at the tractor as it slowly rolled back to the level driveway as I’m pushing this thing back up the hill.

All is well now but things were tense for a minute. Nobody saw me so doesn’t count!

 

[CobyRupert]

Ever put the bar oil in the gas? Or put a chain on backwards?

........Nobody saw me so doesn’t count!

^ What he said!!!

 

[radios1]

not me, but my nephew decided to throw cups of gasoline on a fire that wasn't burning good.. I yelled at him good, and reminded him for a week after that!..

 

[radios1]

Ever put the bar oil in the gas? Or put a chain on backwards?

there's a big thread about it here somewhere. the guy that bought it from the pawn shop thought it was junk for parts, then realized what happened, and got it running..

 

[Richard]

I try to clean things up around the farm... my father in law & uncle in law (both now deceased) were not going to ever do it AND, frankly, they were too fragile to try.

Cutting some kudzo monster growth by the barn one day, I backed into something metallic.... looked around and viola, I found a small trailer!!!

Rusted to heck. We were going to take some things to the dump so thought I'd add it. pulled it across the farm to the house. My wife's uncle had his "farm truck" (the kind with grass growing on different parts of the hood)

Truck was fairly full. I wrapped a chain around the small trailer and using my backhoe, hoisted it to the top of the pile in the truck.

Turns out that trailer was MUCH MUCH heavier than anticipated.....as I lowered it into the truck, the side of the truck just creaked & groaned as it got bent outwards at about a 45 degree angle.

Oh, crap..... now what have I done? I'm going to have to buy a multi-hundred dollar truckbed for a truck that at BEST is worth $14.53 (thing really was beat to snot)

Went to Uncle in law to fess up, he said he couldn't care less....can I bend it back?

Took hoe and put bucket on outside of truckbed and pushed. Bent that sucker a slight bit past vertical.....and it sprung back into place.

Truck is still here on the farm. Now that you know the story, you wouldn't be able to see the damage!

Dodged one there.

Oh, and my brother in law came over with a heavy duty flatbed and we put this trailer on it. Turns out the trailer was home made or something.... and instead of just having a rod for an axle, they used an old truck axle for it (or something like that) it was built like a freaking tank.

 

[duffer]

Richard,
If that's the biggest F. U. you make, consider yourself unbelievably fortunate by my family standards. I think we're the only family that can take a 10 minute job and turn it into 4 days...

You were VERY wise to go after the cap inside the tank. My neighbor just spent 2 weeks trying to decipher why he wasn't getting fuel to the injector rail. Dealer came out 3 times to try different stuff. Long story short, there was a plastic disk left by the factory, that had indeed lodged right over the intake for the fuel line coming out of the tank. If you didn't get it now, you'd have to tear the thing apart again in 2 days. And that would have made you even "happier".

Thanx for sharing

 

[MossRoad]

One of the first things I did when I got my new machine is use the teeth on my rock bucket to put an air-line pass-through port in the side of my garage. :thumbsup:

 

[radios1]

.

btw, truck beds are supposed to be welded. you must have broken the welds.